Odisha: NCDC regional centre to come up in Bhubaneswar

BHUBANESWAR: The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is all set to set up its regional branch on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. It will support the state in strengthening surveillance on emerging and reemerging infections of public health importance. Health secretary Shalini Pandit on Thursday handed over the registered land deed and possession to the director general of health services Prof Atul Goel.

Stating that prevention of diseases should be given equal focus along with clinical treatment, Goel said NCDC at Bhubaneswar would be like a regional centre of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. It would work in complete collaboration with the state machinery for improving disease surveillance, and control of diseases having public health implications, he said.

The state government has provided 3.125 acres of land at Andharua Mauza in the Khurda district free of premium with a waiver of registration fees for the regional centre. It will extend a gamut of diagnostic services for communicable diseases, and non-communicable diseases and will be the apex lab for 32 district public health laboratories, state referral laboratories at MCHs and other laboratories in the state.

The NCDC centre will provide the hand holding for bio-safety and bio-security along with quality assurance activities for district labs and RTPCR labs and lower-level laboratories. It will monitor the emerging trend of diseases along with vector control measures through entomological surveillance and also support operational research activities. The state government has also planned to develop a laboratory management information system for ensuring timely communication of results and an early warning system for all districts.

Pandit said Odisha has rolled out a transformative approach in quality health care services and worked in collaboration with central organisations like RMRC, Institute of Life Sciences and AIIMS during the Covid pandemic.NCDC would further strengthen the state’s strength in disease surveillance and public health service, she added.